November lightning expedition through Indiana and Ohio: November 8, 2005

ABOVE: Lightning near Chillicothe, Ohio.

CHILLICOTHE, OH - I had just purchased a brand-new high-definition video camera in late October, and was determined to start building a library of HD weather footage by next year. Since it was already fall, I figured I would start with things like fog, winter storms and possibly flooding. I didn't expect that one of my first HD weather subjects would be lightning, but that's how November 2005 would go. This was by far the most active Novembers for storms that I had experienced, as I would end up getting some close lightning in Charleston later this same evening, then another round of spectacular lightning in Indiana during an expedition on the 15th.

On the 7th of November, I drove to Louisville, Kentucky after sunset for the first of a three-day storm event. I made my way up to just outside Indianapolis after a cluster of storms, where I captured my first HD lightning strikes near the town of Shelby at around 3AM. They were so-so but were to be bested by what I'd see in Ohio later in the day. I stopped to sleep for a few hours off of an I-70 exit near Richmond, then it was back to observing by midday as storms fired once again. The storm of the day was a strong cell that developed in east-central Indiana and dropped southeastward through central Ohio, making it all the way past Chillicothe, Jackson and across the West Virginia border near Point Pleasant after dark. I stayed with the storm the whole way, stopping every so often for video. The storm's track was conveniently taking me straight toward home on Route 35, meaning I'd not have a long drive after the expedition was over.

BELOW: Lightning from Dayton to Jackson, Ohio: